Batman: Arkham Asylum
While Batman’s (or pretty much any superhero’s) adventures are ripe for a video game adaptation, Gotham’s Dark Knight hasn’t had much of a good track record in the medium. Before Arkham Asylum, almost every game centered around Batman had been subject to some form of criticism – including but not limited to recent flops at the time like Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu and Batman Begins. As such, it seems fair to say that this new release didn’t have the most encouraging factors surrounding its release.
But Rocksteady took that challenge head on, and in doing so – delivered a game that fans deserved. Everything from the amazing story to the fantastic stealth action gameplay and memorable boss fights felt just right for a game of this nature. Restricting the map to a singular location like Arkham Asylum doesn’t really sound all that interesting for a Batman game at first, but the developer did an amazing job of keeping the gameplay interesting within that limited space by making smart use of Metroidvania mechanics. Batman: Arkham Asylum ushered in a new era for Batman games, and the Arkham series went (mostly) uphill from there.
